Menu
Economics
Analyzing Financial Fraud Cases Using a Linguistics-Based Text Mining Approach
May 27, 2014
The paper proposes a linguistics-based text mining approach to automate the process of extracting financial concepts from...
May 27, 2014
The paper proposes a linguistics-based text mining approach to automate the process of extracting financial concepts from...
How About Paying Parents for Their Kids’ Good Grade?
May 26, 2014
In Think Like a Freak, we touch briefly on paying schoolkids for good grades — which, much of the time, isn’t successful. This inspired a note from a reader named Gary Crowley, who describes himself as “an economics major in college many years ago”: Hey Guys, Loved Think Like a Freak. One thought: Why don’t we trying paying parents for kids getting good grades??? If the parents are motivated to make money, from someone else’s hard work, then they’ll make the kids work harder...
May 26, 2014
In Think Like a Freak, we touch briefly on paying schoolkids for good grades — which, much of the time, isn’t successful. This inspired a note from a reader named Gary Crowley, who describes himself as “an economics major in college many years ago”: Hey Guys, Loved Think Like a Freak. One thought: Why don’t we trying paying parents for kids getting good grades??? If the parents are motivated to make money, from someone else’s hard work, then they’ll make the kids work harder...
Fielding a ‘Moneyball’ Compliance Program
February 7, 2014
“There are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there's 50 feet of crap. And then there's us.” - Brad Pitt, as Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, in “Moneyball” All compliance professionals, even those who have never even seen a baseball game, can learn something from the 2011 Brad Pitt film “Moneyball”—the true story about how in 2002 the struggling Oakland Athletics team made more with less. And won. A lot. You have to actually see the movie or, even better,...
February 7, 2014
“There are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there's 50 feet of crap. And then there's us.” - Brad Pitt, as Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, in “Moneyball” All compliance professionals, even those who have never even seen a baseball game, can learn something from the 2011 Brad Pitt film “Moneyball”—the true story about how in 2002 the struggling Oakland Athletics team made more with less. And won. A lot. You have to actually see the movie or, even better,...
Choosing Not to Choose
January 29, 2014
Choice is both a great benefit and an immense burden. In some contexts, people choose not to choose, or would do so if they were asked. For example, many people prefer not to make choices about their health or retirement plans; they want to delegate those choices to a private or public institution that they trust (and may well be willing to pay a considerable amount for such delegations). This point suggests that however well-accepted, the line between active choosing and paternalism is often illusory....
January 29, 2014
Choice is both a great benefit and an immense burden. In some contexts, people choose not to choose, or would do so if they were asked. For example, many people prefer not to make choices about their health or retirement plans; they want to delegate those choices to a private or public institution that they trust (and may well be willing to pay a considerable amount for such delegations). This point suggests that however well-accepted, the line between active choosing and paternalism is often illusory....
In God We Trust: All Others Bring Data
December 26, 2013
"In God we trust, all others bring data." These are the words of William Edwards Deming -- a renowned American statistician, professor, author, lecturer and consultant. In Japan, from 1950 onward he taught top business managers how to improve many aspects of their business through the application of statistical methods. Deming's statistical, data-based methodologies are a familiar concept in this day and age, so one would think they apply to foreign-exchange benchmarks and rates as well. So...
December 26, 2013
"In God we trust, all others bring data." These are the words of William Edwards Deming -- a renowned American statistician, professor, author, lecturer and consultant. In Japan, from 1950 onward he taught top business managers how to improve many aspects of their business through the application of statistical methods. Deming's statistical, data-based methodologies are a familiar concept in this day and age, so one would think they apply to foreign-exchange benchmarks and rates as well. So...
DEMO: Picture It Settled® with Don Philbin (ADRtoolbox): “Scarily Accurate!”
July 25, 2013
In this 44th episode of the Conflict Specialists Show, Dave Hilton gets a live demo of the Picture It Settled® software...
July 25, 2013
In this 44th episode of the Conflict Specialists Show, Dave Hilton gets a live demo of the Picture It Settled® software...
Can Government Play Moneyball?
July 7, 2013
Based on our rough calculations, less than $1 out of every $100 of government spending is backed by even the most basic evidence that the money is being spent wisely. As former officials in the administrations of Barack Obama (Peter Orszag) and George W. Bush (John Bridgeland), we were flabbergasted by how blindly the federal government spends. In other types of American enterprise, spending decisions are usually quite sophisticated, and are rapidly becoming more so: baseball’s transformation...
July 7, 2013
Based on our rough calculations, less than $1 out of every $100 of government spending is backed by even the most basic evidence that the money is being spent wisely. As former officials in the administrations of Barack Obama (Peter Orszag) and George W. Bush (John Bridgeland), we were flabbergasted by how blindly the federal government spends. In other types of American enterprise, spending decisions are usually quite sophisticated, and are rapidly becoming more so: baseball’s transformation...
Ramblings from A Neuro-Linguist: Putting Descartes Before The Horse
June 7, 2013
[Author's Warning: This entry involves references to and discussions about the system of Cartesian Coordinates and how it might assist mediators in reality testing and reframing. Readers with a Math Phobia are advised to proceed with cautious abandonment.] [Author’s postscript: As I finish writing this, it becomes increasingly clear to me that some readers may find the ideas in this entry, if not a bit bizarre, then certainly off the wall. I promise next month, I will write something a little...
June 7, 2013
[Author's Warning: This entry involves references to and discussions about the system of Cartesian Coordinates and how it might assist mediators in reality testing and reframing. Readers with a Math Phobia are advised to proceed with cautious abandonment.] [Author’s postscript: As I finish writing this, it becomes increasingly clear to me that some readers may find the ideas in this entry, if not a bit bizarre, then certainly off the wall. I promise next month, I will write something a little...
How Chapter 11 Saved the US Economy
April 27, 2013
It's no surprise that Harvard Business School professor Stuart C. Gilson gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to the recently announced $11 billion US Airways/American Airlines merger. The deal, which came after American's parent company, AMR Corporation, declared bankruptcy in November 2011, will allow the airline to work with the court to restructure and unload a significant amount of its debt, giving an iconic company "a second bite of the apple," says Gilson. An unabashed advocate of Chapter 11 and debt...
April 27, 2013
It's no surprise that Harvard Business School professor Stuart C. Gilson gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to the recently announced $11 billion US Airways/American Airlines merger. The deal, which came after American's parent company, AMR Corporation, declared bankruptcy in November 2011, will allow the airline to work with the court to restructure and unload a significant amount of its debt, giving an iconic company "a second bite of the apple," says Gilson. An unabashed advocate of Chapter 11 and debt...
What Form of Takings Compensation Is Efficient?
April 26, 2013
The scholarly literature on takings compensation emphasizes incentives for condemnors and condemnees. The widely accepted prediction that full compensation leads to overinvestment by condemnees, however, is not based on the correct understanding of the takings law in the United States. Condemnors are often assumed to be social wealth maximizers or to suffer from fiscal illusion, both theories lacking empirical support. In addition, costs and accuracy of assessing property value for takings compensation...
April 26, 2013
The scholarly literature on takings compensation emphasizes incentives for condemnors and condemnees. The widely accepted prediction that full compensation leads to overinvestment by condemnees, however, is not based on the correct understanding of the takings law in the United States. Condemnors are often assumed to be social wealth maximizers or to suffer from fiscal illusion, both theories lacking empirical support. In addition, costs and accuracy of assessing property value for takings compensation...
